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June 15-16, 2000 Spodek, Katowice, POL
(15th) setlist : Long Road, Breakerfall, Corduroy, Animal, Brain of J, Nothing As It Seems, Given to Fly, God’s Dice, Present Tense, MFC, Not for You, Better Man, Grievance, Thin Air, Even Flow, Nothingman, Insignificance, Rearviewmirror enc: Do The Evolution, Go, Rival, Footsteps, Wishlist, Elderly Woman, Last Kiss, Alive, Rockin’ In The Free World notes: The Spodek is simply full with the crowd. After the two first songs, Ed asks if everything is OK with the crowd in front since lots of people were jumping and lots are falling down. A bit later he notes it has been four years since they’d played in Poland and that they’d made a couple more records since then, “… so we’re gonna play some of that stuff for you as well,” leading to ‘NAIS.’ The crowd has fun during ‘Not For You,’ with almost everyone shouting the “this is not for you!” chorus. Before ‘Even Flow’ was a short intro/improv including the lyrics, “We’re the world, the wicked world. We all are marching to hell….” During ‘Do The Evolution,’ Ed takes out a monkey mask, puts it on and then puts on his mic stand. Then he stares at the mask singing. He passes the mask to Mike and Mike puts it on and continues to play. Before ‘Elderly Woman,’ Ed says, “We met a girl called Magda, and later another Magda, and then a few other Magdas … so I guess this song is for Magda and all the Magdas.” Ed has a small mirror and is playing at catching lightbeams in it. ‘RITFW’ is a big finish, with Ed catching a Polish flag and singing with it on his mic stand while playing the tambourine. He walks from right to left in front of the crowd, pours wine over the crowd, kneels on the stacks and gives the tambourine to a fan. At the very end, Mike simply smashes his black guitar with fury. He uses the neck of his guitar like a hockey stick and smashes Ed’s wine bottle. Ed says, “Thank you … see you tomorrow.” He takes three photos with his Polaroid and departs, taking the Polish flag. (16th) setlist : Release, Of The Girl, Sleight of Hand, Thin Air, Insignificance, Grievance, Corduroy, Animal, Hail Hail, State of Love and Trust, Evacuation, Daughter/(ABitW)/(On a Rope), Jeremy, I Got Shit, Light Years, Leatherman, In Hiding, Off He Goes, Dissident, MFC, Habit, Alive enc: Smile, Immortality, Black, Leaving Here, Soldier of Love, Last Exit, Soon Forget, Yellow Ledbetter notes: date was originally scheduled for the Petiofi Csarnock in Budapest, Hungary. Those who showed a ticket stub from the previous night’s show could buy a ticket to the second show at half price! The whole band is in a great mood, smiling throughout the show. A special atmosphere is created from the very beginning of the show, making it feel like they are playing right in your living room. Ed fucks up the lyrics and starts directly with “Oh dear dad, can you see me now…”, making ‘Release’ a very short song but still very intense. ‘Of The Girl’ and then two more slow songs follow, introduced with, “We’ll try and take it easy tonight. Let’s get through the pretty ones first…” After each song the band gathers in the middle of the stage and discusses what they will play next. Eddie keeps the other band members from changing their instruments a few times. Mike seems to be very tired and introverted during the first few songs, but still interacts very much with the crowd in front of him. Ed catches a bouquet with a note. He reads it and says, “Oh, they’re from a guy” — ‘I’ll meet you the show.’” He rips the petals off the flowers during ‘Sleight of Hand’ while the stage is bathed in blue light. The crowd is hypnotized witnessing something special happening on stage as it seemed like they would go on with slow songs forever but then they changed hitting with five unbelievable rocking tracks in a row !!! Ed dons a gas mask during ‘Daughter’ (hey, it was only a matter of time). ‘Daughter’ is breathtaking with Mike playing some short riffs from ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ throughout the whole song. When Ed starts singing the verse, everyone joins in with Ed encouraging them by pointing at his ear several times. He sings, “The shades go down…” through a gas mask that was thrown on stage by a fan. ‘On a Rope’ is a Rocket From The Crypt song. Ed omits out the first chorus of ‘Jeremy’ like the “new” version played on previous tours. He introduces ‘Light Years’ with, “This song is about … well, you know what it is about. It means a lot to me and I hope that it means a lot to you as well.” After the song he adds, “The next song is also about a dead guy,” and then they start ‘Leatherman.’ Before ‘Off He Goes’ Ed says, “That’s a little song about friendship. About a friend that is an asshole”. Then he points his finger at himself saying quietly that he is an asshole. The audience responds: “Noooooo!”. Ed catches a t-shirt during ‘Alive’ and blindfolds his eyes with it throughout half the song. Mike catches a rose and attaches it to his guitar. The audience yells “Smile, smile” between the songs, and they play it as the encore opener. ‘Black’ and ‘Immortality’ are just magical, first with Ed burning the cork of his wine bottle and painting his face and arms with it and then the whole band lining up in front of Matt during the end of ‘Immortality,’ letting everyone see what a great time they are having and how much they still enjoy playing music together. After ‘Soldier of Love,’ the audience does the “cha-cha-cha” thing from the single and it makes Ed laugh. Ed manages to convince every fan to be silent during ‘Soon Forget,’ although they start quietly singing along with Ed. Mike tags some of Van Halen’s ‘Dance the Night Away’ onto ‘YL.’ Ed takes the usual polaroids of the first row and takes one picture of himself which he throws off the stage right in the hand of some lucky fan. The setlist was modified as they played this amazing show.